Posted by
MediaFlux on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 5:16:00 PM
Do we call this E-roots marketing? We have a couple of specialists on our media floor who do nothing all day but interact on message boards, online forums and the like on behalf of clients. Happily, they don't appear to be impersonating people that they are not which was a concern of mine, but of course, neither are they laying it on the line in terms of what they are doing. Best of all, it seems to really be working. I have two clients under their anonymous wings and not only are they getting the ol' word out, but they are even driving sales for them.
As long as this activity tows the line as we have laid it out for them, I'm fine with it - and perhaps even more than fine with it since the results are exceeding what we were originally looking for. I'm still concerned that as this "project" ages, these specialists may begin to push the envelope in an unhealthy direction as expectations from senior management grows.
As advertising and PR have been in constant flux as of late, and the more traditional forms of ads and PR have been trending downward, I have been helping clients to envision and initiate more grassroots marketing. This may be the cutting edge of that philosophy, we'll see. I'm also concerned about the basic health and humanity of the people doing this work - I know I start to lose my mind after too much computer or email, so this is one job I could never do.